


Sick Days and Family Haze

by Androids_in_Metropolis



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Awkward Luke, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Sick Fic, caring!Lorelai, family stuff, jess is 16, rory and jess are friends, rory is 19, rory is older than jess and at college, sick jess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 02:36:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4729544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Androids_in_Metropolis/pseuds/Androids_in_Metropolis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jess feels bad about everything, he just isn't' that great at talking about it. Lorelai will forgive him, for his own sake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sick Days and Family Haze

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like this! Just a cute little fluff about Lorelai being motherly to Jess and being back together with Luke. 
> 
> Inspired by these wonderful vintage fics: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8468041/6/Knight-in-Shining-Hair-Gel
> 
> https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4672540/1/Save-Your-Soul
> 
> https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6954238/2/Burn

Jess was shivering into Luke’s rough embrace, his normally styled hair back to it’s natural curls and covering his face. He couldn’t see...all that he was surrounded by was the blinding gray of Luke’s T-shirt and he wrapped his arms around his uncle’s waist and sobbed.

He was so, so tired. Reality was beginning to blend with his general mentality and his messy thoughts that didn’t belong in the real world. Jess wasn’t clear on if Luke was really holding him, or if it was some kind of whacked out dream. Either way he was scared; Scared for himself, and Luke, and all the people he had managed to piss off in Star’s Hollow.

His vision blurred as tears began to make it hard to distinguish even light from dark, as everything was dark.

He was so, so tired.

No one around town had spoken to him since the accident, not even Luke had said more than 10 words to him. It had been weeks ago. At first it had hurt that Rory hadn’t told anyone exactly what had happened, how she hadn’t defended him at all, but by now he had forgiven her. Why would she? He was just some dumb ass kid she had tutored. She had everything and he had nothing-not even Luke.

The silence had worn on him to the point that he didn’t talk to anyone really anymore either. He was now just a silent observer, not even a quippy comment in the back of his mind enough to get his mouth to open.

He hadn’t told anyone when he had felt so sick the day before. He didn’t tell anyone now, or didn’t think he was.

\------------------------------------------

Just was sobbing into Luke’s chest, Luke holding him tightly. The older man had no clear idea of what was going on; Jess had come home from school and went to bed, and when he had come up to check on the younger (he had been absolutely silent for some time) he found him crying. Jess had wrapped himself around Luke and was now mumbling about the accident, about New York, about Liz...about how he felt and who he was and why he was there.

Luke pulled away from Jess, taking him by the shoulders and sitting him still, moving his hands down towards Jess’s elbows as the younger made to cover his face. Jess looked terrible, Luke noted with regret, seeing the dark circles that shone very prominently against the younger’s ashen skin. His cheeks were red, his eyes were glassy, his lip was busted and bleeding down his chin. He had bitten through it.

“Hey,” Luke said unsurely, his voice lower than usual. “Hey, Jess, what’s the matter?” Luke was absolutely terrified-He had been distracted lately, and hadn’t been keeping as watchful and eye on Jess as he should have been. He should have noticed he wasn’t okay…

“I’m s-sorry,” Jess gasped, breaking free of Luke’s grasp and bringing his hands to his face and covering his eyes. “I’m s-sorry, I didn’t mean to...Rory, I nev-er meant to hurt her. She pushed my arm and then...it just happened.” Jess was crying so hard his words were slurred more than usual. Luke was too busy absorbing the information to worry about that.

“It’s okay, Jess, no one blames you,” Luke lied through his teeth, looking anywhere but at his nephew. “Wanna talk?” he asked, wondering if now was the moment that Jess was going to break down and tell him everything. He had waited long enough, he thought.

Jess nodded, taking deep breaths. He still wasn’t sure if he was asleep-Gosh, he hoped this was a dream-but he decided that maybe if he could work though this in his sleep he’d feel better. Maybe the knot in the bottom of his stomach would loosen a little and his skin would cool, maybe he wouldn’t feel so alone.

“Mom-Liz,” Jess corrected himself, his face still covered. “She sent me to you ‘cos Jake didn’t like me. She said she was scared for me...I...he hurt me, Luke,” he choked, letting his hands fall though his face remained hidden behind his knees. He could still feel the stinging words and later punches and kicks given to him from his mother’s ‘dear friend’ Jake. “I don’t want to go back...Luke, please don’t,” he was sobbing again, “please don’t send me back.”

Luke was paralyzed as the information was divulged, engulfing him in a grey film and settling over his skin. Someone had hurt Jess...Someone his mother let into his life had hurt him, and the assaulter had been allowed to stay while the victim was sent away.

“I won’t send you back,” Luke assured the younger boy before he was cut off by Jess continuing to speak.

“I...No one’s talking to me,” he whispered, suddenly early calm. His shoulder no longer shook, though they were taught with tension, raised to his ears. “No one in this damn town, no one...no one talks to me. Lorelai hates me, Rory hasn’t talked to me, Dean hates me, the teachers hate me.” Jess was saying this in the confidence that he was asleep.

Luke looked at Jess as the younger tumbled forward, apparently having passed out. Luke jumped into action, a little bit of panic in his heart. He was nervous, and sad, and scared; All over Jess. He would call Lorelai, tell her everything, get her to come and play mom...get her to say sorry to Jess, tell him she didn’t hate him.

\-----------------------------

“Jess?” Lorelai asked, leaning over Jess’s bed. Luke had explained everything to Lorelai, who had had a mini anxiety attack over the whole situation. She had apologized to Luke, and cried. She had been tired; The choice to not talk to Jess had been an unconscious one after the accident. At first she had been too upset to say anything to him, but then it had just become a force of habit she wasn’t entirely unhappy about.

Jess blinked up at Lorelai, shuddering. He was tired...so tired. So, so tired.

“Jess, sweetie,” Lorelai whispered, running her cool hand over the teen’s head, noting how high his fever must be and making a mental note to try and cool him down after she figured out what was wrong with him in the first place. “Can you tell me how you feel, hon?” she asked, sitting down beside him and continuing to pet his curls away from his eyes.

“Lorelai?” Jess rasped, his energy spent from the earlier fiasco which he couldn’t even remember. Why the hell was she here? Why was she sounding nice? Why did his whole damn body hurt so bad? “You hate me. Why, why are you here?”

Lorelai did a double take, shaking her head. She didn’t know why she was there...she still didn’t trust Jess. He was way too angry, way too hurt. He was dangerous, a bomb which she knew would either go off right then or be a dud and the problem was that she didn’t know which it was.

“I don’t know, Jess,” she admitted, pursing her lips. “I don’t know; But, that isn’t what matters right now,” she said, perking up. “I need you to tell me how you feel, down to a T. Spare me no gorey detail, k?” When Lorelai saw Jess’s hesitance to talk to her at all she pulled out to big gun, “That, or we take you to a hospital.”

Jess stiffened, though it hurt him badly to do so. He was forced to think about how he felt…

“Sick,” he mumbled, clamping his mouth shut.

“Where? How?” Lorelai said quickly, not wanting to lose the little momentum she had gained. “You need to tell me if you feel queasy, or dizzy, or achy, or...just give me anything.” Lorelai was a dog begging for a bone...any shred of evidence of what he might be feeling.

“Sick...everything, it hurts,” he mumbled, turning his head into the bed. He eyes were obscured by the sheets, but Lorelai could still see the traces of the tears that Luke had told her about. “I don’t want to move because it hurts too much, and my stomach hurts, and my head hurts...I’m sorry,” Jess trailed off, squeezing his eyes shut. Why was he rambling about himself to Lorelai? A woman that hated him.

“Go on, Jess. You need to tell me exactly how you feel or I will not hesitate to drag your ass down to the hospital where they will no doubt take blood and stick and IV in your skinny ass arm!” Lorelai said, forcefully though not unkindly. By the way Jess shifted uncomfortably she deduced that he was either in pain from his positioning in the bed or he was not keen on needles. She guessed it was a bit of both.

“That’s all, Lorelai...I just don’t feel too great. Can you leave so I can go back to bed? You don’t want to be here anyway!” he was as seething as someone in his position could be. “You don’t like me. You don’t like that I crashed Rory’s car and you don’t like that I like to tease people or that I don’t do good in school. Please, just leave me alone?” Jess felt tears behind his eyes and he couldn’t stop them from falling down his cheeks, staining his pillow. “Just leave.”

Lorelai sat, stunned. She hadn’t been expecting that, though she knew that she deserved it. She hadn’t thought he was picking up of those vibes she was emitting. She hadn’t been masking them very well, but Jess...Jess was Jess; Apparently he wasn’t as dense as she had thought.

“No, Jess, I don’t think that,” she offered, gently, feeling like she was one of the worse people in Star’s Hollow at that particular moment; Of course, Taylor still came in first. “Jess,” she mumbled as his sobs intensified as she wrapped him into her arms, letting him sob into her shoulder.

Luke watched from the side, beside the door, feeling completely lost. He liked seeing Jess with his guard down, and while he couldn’t help but be jealous of the way Lorelai was holding his nephew and he could tell she was comforting him, he knew he wouldn’t be able to do the same. The episode earlier that morning had scared the hell out of him. Jess wasn’t a crier...he wasn’t meant to be like this...so fragile.

“Luke, have you got any medical supplies?” Lorelai whispered half an hour later once Jess’s sobs have died down and he was breathing quietly and heavily against her chest, holding her close. He thought maybe this is what having a real mother was like. “Like, I mean, thermometers and fever meds and cough syrup?”

Luke shook his head; He’d never had any need for those things, or he didn’t think he had. He wondered guiltily how many times Jess had been sick and not told anyone. How many times had he just ignored it?

“Okay, then,” Lorelai said, not really bothered. “Why don’t we go to my house? It’s more comfortable there, anyway,” she commanded, disguising her order as a question. “Get blankets, a trash can, some of his music. Bring it all down to my van, it’s parked outside.” Lorelai continued to whisper, not wanting to wake Jess until the last minute. He was so calm in his sleep, though he still shivered, and his skin was still burning.

Luke did as he was told, wondering for a moment why the hell Lorelai needed a trashcan. He didn’t ask, just piling all the stuff into the back seat and making a kind of nest for his little nephew. He covered the seats in blankets, tried to fit the trashcan in on the floor but ended up putting it on the seat. He stuck the music in the back seat pockets and then ran up to help Lorelai maneuver a still too sleepy Jess into the back seat, letting the seatbelt hang lose this once, prompting Jess up against the firmly locked left right hand door.

“Do you want me to drive so you can sit with Jess or should I?” Lorelai asked once Jess had been tucked into the car. The 16 year old had already fallen back to sleep, his head against the window and his mouth a little ajar. He was more than a wee bit out of it. Luke bit his lip, nodding for her to climb in with Jess. He had no idea what he was doing...a kid, a sick one, what was he supposed to do? He didn’t know anything about this.

“Uh, I’ll drive,” Luke said matter of factly, grabbing the keys that Lorelai threw at her.

“Suit yourself,” she replied, situating herself beside Jess, sitting the trash can on her lap and wrapping an arm around Jess, putting her hand between his face and the window. She didn’t want his head to get too banged up if they hit a speed bump. “Just straight to our house, K?” She saw Luke nod through the mirror.

\-------------------------

Lorelai helped Jess into the house, watching Luke come up and open the door from the corner of her eye. Honestly, she was glad to be taking care of Jess; What with Rory off at college, Chris doing who knows what with Cherry someone or other, and Taylor beginning to ease up on his rants, she had been down right bored. Jess would be a good distraction, and honestly, she felt bad; He had needed a mother, not someone who was trying to be his friend when they had first met. She had treated him like an adult, and punished him like one too.

The truth though, was that he was a 16 year old kid.

Rory had been his friend, and now, maybe she could provide the former service.

“Come on, Honey,” Lorelai said, drawing herself out of her head as Jess tripped on the door mat, nearly pulling them both down. He was shaking when he regained relative composure, his hands clawing at her arm. His fingers were skinny, his wrists hardly looking like they could hold a glass of water, let alone her coffee cup of epic proportions that he had often served her at the diner. Then again, he tended to spill.

“Gee, what’s he been feeding you?” she asked, shifting the majority of his weight onto herself, finding that he barely weighed more than her average breakfast. Luke was looking at her with concern clearly etched onto his face, though he continued to prep the couch for his shaking nephew. “Grass? Air? Dust bunnies?”

“Lucky Charms and Burgers,” Jess tried to quip, “Breakfast of Champions.” He didn’t sound like his heart was in it, letting the joke drop before it had even had time to hang. He collapsed onto the couch, dazed and confused. Why was Lorelai being nice to him? Why was he at her house? Where was Rory?

Oh, that’s why, he thought, working things out in his head as he leaned against the arm of the couch and closing his eyes. Lorelai was just helping Luke out because he didn’t know what to do, and while Jess usually would have told him to bug off-That he could take care of himself-he felt too sick to go through with it. He was too tired to fight the two stubborn adults. He was at her house because...because...he wasn’t sure, but he was pretty sure it had to do with his fever or something. Rory...Rory was at college. She had been there for nearly two months now; He was just starting his second year at high school.

He missed having an older sister; Someone who was actually on his side. Someone who knew what he wanted, and understood why he did things. Rory had been that person for him. She had been the closest thing to a mother he had really ever had, despite the fact that she was only a few years older than he was. Those years had mattered…

He wondered why Luke was looking at him funny, why Lorelai was petting his hair away and putting something in his mouth-It must be a thermometer, he thought-and why she was talking to him, asking him questions. He wasn’t sure what she was saying; 98% of his brain was somewhere far, far away. He tried to give her a bleary smile, confused by the concerned look she gave him in response. He had been trying to tell her he was feeling better…

Jess leaned over the edge of the couch and vomited onto the floor, his small body shaking violently.

Chaos broke free.

\---------------------------------------------

“Luke, go grab the trash can and a towel,” Lorelai commanded, turning the boy to his side and rubbing his shoulder, trying to rub some motherly comfort vibes onto his shaking arm.

“I-I’m sorry,” Jess managed, his eyes closed and his brow furrowed. He was trying very, very hard not to say anything mean or snarky or say exactly how he felt. He felt like shit, and when he felt bad he tended to be either meek or horrible. He was leaning towards horrible, but he couldn’t go there, not when Lorelai was finally treating him like a human again. “I-I d-didn’t m-mean to,” he stuttered, surprised when he felt Lorelai take him in her surprisingly strong arms.

Lorelai hugged Jess to her chest, careful not to hurt him or squeeze him too tightly. He was just a kid-A kid a lot like Rory. He was a tired, sick kid who liked to read and had a tongue that was faster than his judgment. He had parents who didn’t care and an uncle who had trouble showing how much he cared...She felt sorry for him. She felt like she understood him.

“It’s okay, Jess, don’t be sorry. The rug was from my mom anyway; You were doing me a favor,” she whispered, trying to sound light hearted as Luke returned with the trashcan and a ratty bathroom towel. She smiled as she felt Jess’s arms wrap around her waist, his face buried in her shoulder. She took the towel from Luke, throwing it across the couch where Jess was going to lay and putting the trash can next to it.

“Luke, would you throw out the rug?” she asked, softly, tucking her own legs underneath her and shifting so Jess could sit more conveniently in her lap. She was making an unbreakable vow with herself; To be Jess’s mother, and make sure he got what he needed. He deserved that, and she missed being a mother now that Rory was off parenting herself.

“Uh, yeah,” Luke mumbled, taking up the rug and folding it so as not to spill any of it’s vile content on the floor. He scrunched up his nose and threw out the rug, tying it securely in a black trash bag.

Coming back he sat beside the odd pair on the couch, not paying attention to the buzzing TV, instead focussing on his prone Nephew and the woman who knew how to take care of him. He saw how she held him, how in the state of his fever Jess let her. How they were getting on, and how if Jess even groaned Lorelai would make sure everything was alright. How she got him to fall asleep, his glassy eyes staring blankly at the TV as some old style comedy buzzed in front of him.

“He’s asleep,” Lorelai mumbled, shifting a little. She smiled at Luke.

Luke wrapped his arm around Lorelai, looking down at his sleeping nephew and the spread of tissues, ginger ale, popsicle wrappers, and a candy bag (for Lorelai, of course). This looked like a family...a family with a sick kid, but a family.

They could be a family?

Luke leaned over, kissing Lorelai’s cheek.

“What was that for?” Lorelai asked, turning her head to look at her friend.

“Nothing...just thanks...for everything; You know, taking care of Jess and helping me out and being so kind to him, God knows if there was one person who has the right to dislike him it’s you.”

Lorelai grimaced; After having been with Jess all day, heard him in his nightmares, listened to his apologies and held him when he cried. It’s hard to hate someone when their guard is down and you know you’re one of the people who could oh-so easily hurt them.

“It was nothing,” she replied, sitting back, letting Jess continue to rest on her chest.

“I just meant...Lorelai, doesn’t this seem nice? Just us, like a family,” Luke said awkwardly, looking at his hands in his lap, nervous as hell. “I mean, Lorelai, we could get back together...we could be here for Jess. You know, he looks up to you, and it broke him when you started to act like you disliked him so much and I...I’m rambling,” Luke mumbled, trailing off.

Lorelai turned her head and kissed Luke softly on the mouth.

“Anything else to add, Harlequin?” she asked, chuckling. “That’s doesn’t sound too bad, batman,” she continued, laughing at herself. The offer sounded good...better than good; It sounded perfect. It was a second kid, Rory’s best friend, her boyfriend who she had loved and still loved so much. They had broken up after Rory went to college because of the whole Jess situation but if that wasn’t something problematic anymore...

“Yes.”

“You’re house of mine?”

“Mine.”

“Mine.”

“No, mine!”

Jess slept through the argument, though there was no doubt he would have rolled his eyes, grabbed a paper back and told them both to stick it up their asses.

**Author's Note:**

> Please review :)


End file.
